


Three Wishes

by dorkpatroller



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Aladdin AU, But not quite, Gift Fic, M/M, Magic, sort of canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-07-31 08:56:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20112487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkpatroller/pseuds/dorkpatroller
Summary: Niles just does what he has to do to keep himself alive. As for Leo, he never met him before that day, but something about him made him want to help a guy out. Maybe that's how all this came to pass.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A gift for my dear deer friend.

Growing up on the dirty, cold streets of Nohr should be considered a miracle. Most children don’t make it, not since the king went mad. The royal family used to be beloved by its people, but now they close themselves off to the world like they’re locked away in a cage. Niles doesn’t know if they’re locking someone out or locking someone, or something, in. 

Ever since the king stopped caring about his people, food has become scarce. Trades with other countries have practically ceased entirely due to the king’s erratic behavior, and food doesn’t seem to flourish here. Crops die, water is tainted with mud and in some areas acid rain. Needless to say the people with money monopolize the clean food and water and when you’re a kid with no money or even shelter it’s not easy to survive. 

He’s been doing it his whole life, though. Stealing, hiding, running, and people know him as the thief he is. It’s not his fault he was born into a world where the only way to live is by snatching food from vendors when they turn their heads. 

Like right now, for example. There’s a big cart ahead of him that he’s never bothered to steal from before. It’s only operated by one tubby, old man but it’s usually surrounded by a handful of people. It’s always tempting. He sells jars of fresh honey with pieces of honeycomb inside of them and loaves of fresh bread. He has apples and crates of berries, and they all look fresh and delicious. Honey smeared on crusty bread is his  _ favorite _ . 

A little girl is standing in front of the stand and she passes over a coin and is rewarded with an apple from the merchant. She lights up and thanks him and this… this is Niles’s time to strike. The poor girl looks like she’s starving and like she worked hard to earn or steal that coin and this is her first meal in ages. It’s no wonder that when Niles snatches the apple right out of her little hand the entire crowd turns their attention to him in outrage. 

“H-Hey! That’s mine!” The girl shouts. Niles turns to run, and he hears her shouting after him. “Stop! Please! That man is a thief!” 

All of those angry eyes on him are a little unnerving. Stealing out of the hands of a child is rotten, but in this case necessary. So he does what any man stealing food from a baby should do. He runs. The owner of the stand, as well as a few others, chase after him, but they all ultimately end up waving their hands and scoffing. The shopkeep does get the attention of a couple of guards, however, and  _ that’s  _ unfortunate. They’ll put up more of a fight chasing after him.

He’s just thinking about the best route to plan his escape when he runs right into another man’s chest. He stops, barely avoiding smashing his forehead against his. He’s tall. Maybe taller than Niles, even, but it’s close. His hair is light, sandy blonde and he’s wearing light leather armor but otherwise average clothes. Well, not quite average. He’s dressed in nice linens, clothes that someone without wealth couldn’t afford. Niles doesn’t think he’s ever seen him before in his life, though. He would remember--because the moment he lays his eye on those pretty, hazelnut eyes he thinks he’s struck by lightning. He’s attractive. Niles’s type, actually. 

He’s also in his way. “Pardon me, but I’m in a hurry.” 

“Did you really just steal an apple from a starving child?” 

Niles raises his brow up. “Sure looks like it. Now can you move?” 

The man scoffs. “Absolutely not. Give me that apple.” Oh. He thinks he’s going to be some kind of hero. Niles has to admit, he just gets lost staring at him for a minute. He’s not sure what draws him to this sort of person. He looks kind enough, but stern. He’s trying to play the part of a hero, trying to do something good in this shitty world. Maybe it’s because Niles wants someone to swoop in and save him from this life? Or maybe it’s because he wants to break them, too. 

He turns to see a guard turning the corner and shakes his head. “I don’t have time for this,” He says. He grips the man's wrist and drags him with him while he runs. He resists at first, but Niles keeps a tight grip and pulls him towards a flight of stairs. 

“Unhand me! Do you know who I am?” 

“Can’t say that I do, actually. Do you know who  _ I _ am?” He certainly does not. And he screws his mouth shut tight and joins him in running up those stairs in response to the question he can’t answer. At the top of the stairs is a rooftop, and only about two and a half feet past it another. He’s got to jump to get down to the shortcut home. He’s about to, too, but the man pulls unexpectedly hard on his wrist. 

He’s a lot stronger than those soft hands of his let on. Niles sighs. “Hey, this has been fun but I’ve got to go, now,” Niles says. 

“You’re a dirty thief for stealing from that child and quite frankly you deserve to be caught by those guards. I’m feeling merciful, however, and I’ll release you if you give me that apple.” 

Niles groans. “Look, guy, do you want that little girl to have this apple back?” 

He rolls his eyes. “Obviously.” 

“Then stop talking. You’re cute, but hell if you aren’t a little too chatty for my type.” 

“Wh… Wow.” The man takes a deep breath. “You really  _ don’t _ know who you’re talking to.”

“Nope. And you don’t know me either, but you’re gonna have to trust me, alright? Come on.” Niles backs up a few steps to get a running start to jump across the roof. If the man does or doesn’t join him, honestly he doesn’t care. He’s going home regardless, apple in hand. Niles jumps and to his genuine surprise, the man follows him. He slides down a ladder on the other side of the roof, which lands him on a small, cobblestone side street. 

There the man is, and Niles groans. “Alright, alright, this way,” he says. He’s clearly not going to lose this guy so he may as well keep his word and prove his point. He leads him down the alleyway until it twists around an old tavern. Back behind the tavern, there’s a pile of barrels and crates tucked into a corner that leads to nothing more than a dead end. By tugging on one of the crates it opens up like it’s on hinges. Two crates, one stacked on top of the other, but they’re really a secret door. 

Ah, the man’s jaw drops, and Niles playfully taps the underside of his chin to knock it closed. “Go on, then. Or aren’t you coming?” 

He steps inside and Niles follows him after he secures the door. He bolts it with a lock. Inside the little entryway it opens up into an entire sort of ‘house.’ It’s not much of a home, but there’s a little wood-burning stove that vents out behind that tavern it’s tucked into. There’s a pile of blankets and cushions to one corner that is a little in need of a wash but it’s as much of a bed as Niles can manage for now. Off to one side, there’s a rickety table where that little girl from before is sitting, eating a slice of bread with honey spread all over it. 

She’s cute the way she dips her head to look at their company. “Uh, who’s that?” She asks. 

Niles shrugs his shoulders in response. He walks closer to her and sets her apple down in front of her on the table. Then he flips one of the braids in her hair with his fingers. “Cute. This makes you look pretty innocent, kiddo.” 

“Well, duh, that was the point.” 

“That girl… is your daughter?” The stranger asks. He looks like he’s suddenly realizing the whole thing was a setup. Or maybe he’s just a little slow. 

Nina corrects him anyway. “Uh, no. He’s not my dad. He’s just temporary--I can take care of myself. So who are you again?” 

“I’m,” he starts. Niles interrupts.

“Do you want some bread?” He pushes the little slab of a cutting board that the loaf of bread and knife are sitting on towards him. 

  
The man pushes his fingertips into his temples. “Alright. Explain this to me. You stole her apple…” 

“Borrowed it,” Niles says.

“...Fine. You borrowed her apple to cause a distraction… and she stole the bread and honey?” 

Nina grins. “And some more apples, and a tube of sausages. That guy wasn’t paying attention at all. People always fall for that, you know? Oh boo hoo, that man stole from that innocent little girl.” 

Niles dips his head. “You look like you’re about to eat your own foot,” he says. He doesn’t seem to be interested in cutting off any bread for honey, so Niles reaches over and just tears off a hunk to dip in the honey for himself. He takes a bite and his eye could roll back. He  _ loves _ honey on bread. It’s so simple but the highest form of luxury he’s ever had. But he clears his throat. “Anyway, the brat is Nina and I’m Niles. This is home. So who are you again, Mr. Righteous?” 

He takes in a slow breath. “You… really don’t know me? This isn’t a game?” 

Niles shakes his head. “Well I know you’re from the castle, with those clothes, but I’ve never been in there so why should I know you? None of us are allowed in that castle.” 

“I see. My name is Leon. I should be going.” 

“Whatever,” Nina says.

Niles raises his brow. Leon starts to turn away and so Niles sidesteps the table so he can reach for his hand one more time. Soft hands. It’s sort of absurd how they fit into his own. “Hey, hey. You didn’t even get the grand tour. Or your bread.” He dips another hunk of bread into honey and passes it right into Leon’s free hand.

He looks skeptical, but he takes it anyway. Obviously hesitantly. He doesn’t look thrilled, maybe he’s just embarrassed that he was bamboozled just like the rest of the people in the market. “I think I’ve seen all this shack has to offer. I’m happy to see that you didn’t technically steal from that girl, and I won’t report you to the authorities.” 

“Well I know you won’t,” Niles says. Leon looks at him with curiosity lighting up those pretty eyes. “I wouldn’t have brought you here if I thought you were going to rat us out. Come on.” 

Leon holds the bread awkwardly in one hand while Niles pulls at his wrist with the other. There’s a crisp silence over them, over all of them. Nina watches them over her shoulder before she turns back to a book she was reading while she ate. Niles guides Leon to a wall of blankets, but he pulls on them and they reveal a doorway, like makeshift curtains. 

It opens up into the back alley, again, but in a little nook closed off to the rest of the city. It’s got a view of the entire market, the hustle and bustle of men, women, and children going about their day. It’s just high enough up off the ground that no one can climb up here. It’s like a balcony. Leon suddenly looks like he’s a little in love with it. He finally eats that hunk of bread, and he brushes his hands together to get rid of the crumbs. As soon as he does he uses both hands to lean out over the stone wall and take in the view. 

He’s gorgeous. Niles really is struggling to figure out why he’s so into goody-two-shoes over here. The wind swirls through his pale hair and he catches his lower lip between his teeth while he calculates… something in his head. Then he sighs again and he says, “Well I suppose this  _ is _ a spectacular view.” 

Niles thinks he’ll ask to leave again. Nils won’t stop him this time. But then Leon just exhales in a way that makes his shoulders loosen up and his lips are far less tense. He looks like he’s almost smiling. What’s so special about this undercity? 

“Don’t get out much?” Niles asks.

Leon chuckles, but it sounds bitter. “Almost never. It feels like the city is impossibly distant from the castle.” 

“Well, the royal family did kind of hole themselves up in there,” Niles mumbles. 

“Not exactly,” Leon says. That gets Niles’s attention, but he doesn’t say anything else on the subject. He just clears his throat. “Well, then, tell me more about Nina?” 

Niles hums. “I found her two years ago, starving.” He turns so he can sit against the wall that Leon is leaning against. 

“Well, you took her in, obviously. Why?” 

“When I was her age I was alone too. I didn’t have anyone, so I had to teach myself how to survive in this city. It wasn’t always easy either.” He taps the eyepatch over his eye, and he watches Leon nod his head. “I didn’t want her to be like me.” 

“She seems to take after you anyway.” 

“Nah, she’s got a mind of her own. She’s going to be better than I’ll ever be.” 

Leon nods his head. “It’s odd she doesn’t think of you as a father figure. It sounds to me as though you’ve properly adopted her.” 

Niles shakes his head slowly. “It’s not that. I think her parents abandoned her. She won’t talk about it, and she was pretty young when I found her, but if I had to guess she’s afraid of calling someone her father.” Leon is silent and Niles blows an awkward whistle of air between his lips. After a few moments have passed, he goes on to ask “What has you out of the castle?” 

Leon shrugs his shoulders. He turns his attention back to Niles, but only because Niles blurts, “Oh, honey.” 

“Pardon me?” He starts to ask. Niles reaches out and wipes a smear of honey from that bread off of the corner of Leon’s mouth. As he does, he admittedly finds himself brushing the rough pad of his thumb over Leon’s smooth lips too. 

The color of his cheeks turns to a dark, dark red. Maybe Niles can woo him. Maybe this is some kind of fate or something because he’s  _ so _ his type. Leon tilts his eyes downcast, he’s just so  _ cute _ before he ultimately looks back up at Niles. “I’m looking for something. I’ve got clues to find it. I’ve heard of an enchanted treasure not far from here.” 

Niles pulls his hand back. “Uh,” He starts. “I’m sorry, what?” 

“I don’t know why, but I feel as though I really can trust you. This might be my only opportunity to be honest, there’s not a soul I can tell at the castle. Besides, if you were to bring it up to anyone they would call you a crazy man.” 

Leon stands up straighter and folds his hands behind his back. His blush is faded now, he just looks professional and regal. “I lied to you. My name is Leo, I am the second prince of Nohr. I believe my father is being manipulated by a dark sorcerer who lives in the castle, but none of my magic is powerful enough to counter his. This item may help me rescue my father before he drives this country into the ground.” 

Whew. This is a lot. Niles’s head buzzes while he tries to digest that information. The first thing that blips into his thoughts is that, no, he can’t woo him. He’s a prince, apparently, and that means there’s just no chance he’s going to fall into Niles’s arms any time soon. But he did get to tease him a little, and he’ll settle for saying he made a prince blush. 

The rest of it is a little harder to swallow. “What you’re saying is that you’re a prince, on a mission to find a magic  _ something _ that can save your father from being… possessed?” 

“Well it’s not exactly possession,” Leo says. He frowns. “More like manipulation. But yes, that’s the condensed version of the story.” 

“So… what exactly is this thing you’re looking for?” 

“A pocket watch. According to the old texts I found, it was blessed by a god or goddess and has the power to cure any ailment. That said, another text said that it was a cursed item, and that’s why it’s hidden away in the cursed caves. Regardless, I think I may still have time to save my father if I can find it.” 

“So where is it? I’ve never heard of any cursed caves.” 

“Well there’s a map,” Leo says. He reaches into his breast pocket and from it pulls out an old, dingy piece of parchment. Niles leans over and nearly laughs… because he’s looking at a treasure map. This feels incredibly made up. Leo seems to pick up on it. “I know it sounds outrageous, but this map, when laid over a map of Nohr, leads to a point in the Woods of the Forlorn.”

“Those are dangerous woods,” Niles mumbles. 

“I didn’t say it would be an easy trip,” Leo says back. “But haven’t you ever loved someone enough that you were willing to do anything so long as they were safe and happy? My father isn’t a monster. He’s a good man and if I can save him I may be saving Nohr in the process. This country isn’t cursed, my father is, and I can stop it.” 

“I guess I don’t get it,” Niles says. “Why go on your own? You’re a prince, can’t you send an army?” 

“Iago would find out immediately if I mobilized troops. I haven’t had retainers in years, my father has been unwilling to assign them to me. I think that’s Iago’s doing as well. He knows I’m wary of him. He’s my father’s advisor, unfortunately, but I don’t want him to know about this. Any object strong enough to save a man is surely enough to kill one too.” Leo sets the map down on the balcony while his words are cut off. There’s a horn from the castle. It’s loud and obnoxious, and Leo’s lips curl into a frown. 

“They know I’m gone. I need to leave now before he figures out why I left. He’s been looking for an excuse to get rid of me, and I wouldn’t be the first of my siblings to be accused of treason.” 

Niles thinks that’s… a little extreme. He supposes there used to be a whole slew of children in that family, but now as far as he knows there are only four left. Is that where they’ve all gone? “I can walk you back.” 

“No, thank you,” Leo says. He backs away from Niles, through their blanket doorway, and back out the front of their home so quickly if Niles blinked he would have missed it. Niles sits down at the table with a huff and Nina wanders away.

She comes back a moment later and waves that same paper in his face. “Niles, what’s this?” She asks. Niles takes it from her and frowns. It’s the map. Maybe… Maybe he can get that watch for Leo before he gets his pretty, dumb ass killed trying. 


	2. Chapter 2

When he left her, Niles kissed Nina’s forehead once, twice, three times, until she said he was gross and to get off of her. Then he promised her that he would be back as soon as he found what he was looking for. She was mad she couldn’t come with him, but she said he was a dumbass for going to the Woods of the Forlorn. He made her promise to stay hidden and made sure she had all of her favorite foods on hand in their hideout, even the strawberries that are hard to find that grow out in the wild. 

He’s not worried about her, but he has to admit he misses her. She’s been with him for two years now, and sure she doesn’t want to call him dad but he does take care of her as a parent would. He would be devastated if something happened to her while he was gone. But it won’t; she’ll be fine. 

The Woods of the Forlorn is situated in the deepest, darkest part of Nohr. They’re dangerous, a place where people don’t often return from. Light doesn’t shine through the trees and the bogs are poison there. Even the animals all seem to be teeming with venom. He’s hesitant to even enter because only mages are said to be able to navigate this labyrinth. Getting lost here is easy, and without a spell to guide you home, you’ll die in these woods. 

Getting lost in the woods and leaving Nina forever kills him just to think about, so he’ll have to be on his guard. 

The map is very detailed. It looks like it was drawn as the cartographer went. The trail has dips and turns and there are large structures drawn in. There’s a tree with a star-shaped notch in it that he turns left at, and after a way, he comes across a clearing with three tall rocks engraved with runes, all carefully drawn onto the parchment. 

Eventually, it leads up to a cave shaped like a jaw with jagged teeth jutting out from the top and bottom of the entrance. This is where the map leads. It looks like it could easily be an entrance into Hell. Niles draws his fingertip along the point of one of the rocks and he finds it’s sharp enough to cut him, like a real fang. 

He takes a deep breath and squeezes into the cave between some of the teeth. The first thing he sees when he gets inside is a stone, in the middle of the path. Well, more of a marker than a stone. When he crouches down and wipes away the damp moss on it, he can hold up his lantern and see words.  _ Beware All Who Enter Here: These Treasures Are Curses, They Carry Death Upon Them. _

“Okay,” Niles says to himself just to make a sound in this silent cavern. He stands back up and proceeds past the stone. “Don’t touch anything. Got it.” 

That would be easy but there’s a lot to see in this cave. It’s not like it’s paved with gold or anything, certainly not, but there are  _ things _ everywhere. There are some things that genuinely look cursed. Oil paintings with clawed out faces propped up against glistening cave walls, old chairs missing legs, even a trophy animal missing its jaw. Those things are best seen only in nightmares. Niles walks past them easily. Other things don’t look cursed at all. Journals and stacks of books as tall as he is are piled up in one corner. As he gets deeper into the cave he finds jewels and gemstones and a variety of old clothes… but no pocket watch. There’s junk everywhere and it’s entirely too dark, even with the lantern. 

Speaking of his lantern, it seems to be getting dimmer. He’s not sure why because it has plenty of oil in it. He’s got goosebumps from the cool air and the cave starts producing eerie sounds and that’s when he thinks maybe he should leave  _ without _ the watch. 

One particular sound is like a woman’s anguished moan, and he stumbles backwards. He trips and lands in a small puddle of water. It’s annoying at best, but at the bottom of the puddle, he does find what looks to be an antique pocket watch. 

“Finally,” He mumbles. He reaches for it, but before he can even grip it the silver chain wraps around his wrist like a snake, like it’s pulling on him and not the other way around. He’s sure it’s a figment of his imagination. Just the way the water is upset by his fall. Right? He pulls the watch out of the water and the entire cave  _ moans. _

The water in the puddle begins to rise as if that watch were somehow holding it closed like a drain. That’s impossible, but it’s rising at such an alarming rate Niles doesn’t have time to debate the logic. He turns his head and tries to spot the exit, where the light is barely filtering in through the jagged teeth. He can’t see it. He pushes himself up and runs back the way he came, past the scary paintings and the pretty journals, and he finds that the entrance is just… gone. The teeth are closed. “No,” He says, almost whispers. He bangs on the stone wall but there’s no give at all. “No!” 

On his third time pounding on the cave wall the water is already covering his knees. He accidentally slaps the watch against the stone and that causes the face to pop open. Niles probably wouldn’t have even noticed, if not for a bright light spilling from the open watch. When the light fades… a man is left standing there. 

“What in hell,” Niles whispers. “Who are you?” 

The man is dressed in soft shades of white and green, in clothes that are fairly regal. He looks like he could be a prince of some distant land, with eyes to match the color in his clothes and sunshine blonde hair. He seems momentarily confused when he sees Niles, though, and then he looks around the room. The water level has risen up to their chests, now. 

“My greatest companion! I fear we may be at risk of drowning…” 

“No shit,” Niles whispers. He’s swept off of the ground entirely, struggling to keep his head above water. 

“Are you still holding the watch? I can get us out of here if you’ll just squeeze it in your hand and repeat after me! Say ‘I wish for you to get us both out of this cave and to safety!” 

Niles thinks that’s the most absurd thing he ever heard, but coming from the magical man who just popped out of a watch he thinks it’s worth trying. So he repeats the words, just barely, before the water rises up over his lips. 

In the blink of an eye, they’re outside. Not just outside of the cave, but outside of the Woods of the Forlorn entirely. Niles gasps and clutches his chest while he coughs up a bit of water. He turns his head and there that man is, wringing out some of his clothes as if he didn’t casually just save their lives. 

“So,” Niles croaks, “Are you some kind of sorcerer?” 

“What? No, I’m just a regular human. I don’t know anything about magic.” 

Is he playing a game right now? Niles frowns. “You just used magic to free us.” 

“Oh, no! Not I, but you! You made a wish to free us, not magic or spells. But, now that you bring it up, you should know the rules for how these wishes work.” 

“Wishes,” Niles mumbles under his breath. 

“Exactly! My name is Odin Dark, a hero in the making! And it will be my pleasure to grant you any three wishes you desire. I do have only three rules. The first rule is that I won’t grant you a wish for more wishes. It doesn’t work like that, I’m only human, you know? Rule number two: I won’t grant a wish for extreme chaos or evil. I’m a hero, not a villain. And the last rule is that for a wish to count, you must be holding the watch in your hand and say the words ‘I wish’.” 

“Three wishes,” Niles says again.

“Well, technically two. You used your first one back there so we didn’t drown,” Odin says. “What was your name again?” 

“Niles.” 

“Niles. Obviously, you came into that cave looking for the watch. Don’t you have any wishes in mind?” 

“No,” Niles says. He stands up and squeezes some water from his hair. “I came here to fetch that watch for Prince Leo, he needs it to save his father.” 

“Oh,” Odin says. Niles frowns. 

“Oh?” 

“Well I can only serve one master at a time, so you’ll have to make your wishes before he can,” Odin says. “Or you can use your wish to save his father, if you wanted to. I won’t tell you what to wish for.” 

“Odin,” Niles tries to fight the strain of annoyance in his voice, but it’s difficult. He clears his throat. “Are you, or are you not, capable of saving Leo’s father?” 

“Well a wish can do nearly anything,” Odin says. “But I need to know exactly what’s wrong with him first.” 

“So we need to get into the castle,” Niles says. He can see it on the distant horizon already. Krakenberg is like a fortress and it’s equipped with plenty of guard. Getting inside is not going to be easy. Getting to the prince will be even harder. 

“Well,” Odin says, “I think I can make it work if you were to make a wish… but just make sure you don’t leave a lot of wiggle room in there. If there’s too much gray area in a wish it can sometimes go astray.” 

“Wait,” Niles says with a raised brow, “Aren’t jinns supposed to  _ enjoy _ tormenting people with their own wishes? Death and chaos are supposed to be your whole aesthetic, right?” 

“Right, but I already told you I’m not a jinn, I’m a human.” 

“I’m not a fool, Odin. You came out of a magic item and you’re granting me three wishes. If you’re trying to lure me into thinking you’re not just as dangerous as any other jinn, you won’t. Trust me when I say that.” He doesn’t quite understand the angle, of course. A jinn is usually straight-forward about tormenting its master--or at least in the stories Niles has heard. If Odin wants to act innocent he can, Niles won’t mind. Or maybe he’s genuinely kind and doesn’t enjoy it… but they’ve only just met, and he did come out of a cursed pocket watch. He didn’t come out of a cave full of wonders and happy things, after all.

“Just because I was in a watch doesn’t make me a jinn,” Odin mumbles. “And I’m not.” 

“Right, fine. Come on. We’re not going to the castle yet, we’re going back to the undercity.” 

…

“WHAT?” Nina screams. Odin flinches back a step and Nina pulls on his sleeves. “You found a jinn?” 

“Actually I’m a human,” Odin says. 

“Nina, don’t shout!” Niles hisses. “Someone could hear you, our walls aren’t thick. Now pay attention. Odin is going to get us into the castle by convincing everyone that I am Prince Leo’s retainer and that you’re my daughter.” 

“I’m not your daughter,” Nina says.

“Yeah, kiddo, I know, but they won’t know that so don’t make a scene about it.” Niles changed into dry clothes the moment he got home, and the moment after that he sat down to breakfast with Nina. Or, that is, he pushed food towards Nina and made sure she ate. Odin didn’t ask for anything, and he probably doesn’t need to eat anyway, so he didn’t offer. 

“How are you going to make people believe you’re his retainer if you just show up out of nowhere?” Nina asks.

“Magic,” Niles answers.

“Well, it’s not technically magic, it’s a wish. They aren’t the same thing--I don’t know magic,” Odin interrupts. 

“Whatever,” Niles says. Odin whines, and it makes Niles chuckle, to say the least. 

“Just be  _ very _ specific with your wish, okay?” 

“See, Nina, that’s what I’m saying. Jinns use loopholes in their magic to make it come back to bite you in the ass. They’re dangerous.” 

“I’m not a jinnnnnnn,” Odin whines again. He sits down on a chair at Niles’s table and puts his face in his hands. “Are you ready to make your wish, Niles?” 

“Yeah!” Nina says. “Let’s do it! We have to save the king!” 

“Alright,” Niles says. He can do this, he’s sure of it. Odin seems to genuinely want to help, and he’s pretty sure there isn’t much that can go wrong as long as he’s specific like Odin asks. He takes the watch in his hand and takes a deep breath. “I wish to be a retainer to Prince Leo, and that everyone in the castle recognizes and knows me as such, and for a place in the castle for Nina and I to safely stay.” 

Odin closes his eyes, but then he holds up a hand as if in wait. “And also for some clothes that look the part?” He asks. 

“Uh, sure, and also for some clothes to make it more believable.” 

“Great!” Odin says. He snaps his fingers and the world around them vanishes in a blink.

When Niles opens his eyes next he’s in a room he doesn’t recognize, but he’s sure it’s in the castle. Everything here looks expensive and nice. He turns in a circle and his eyes land on Nina. She’s clean and her hair is in a sweet braid over one shoulder, and she’s wearing black tights under a cute blue and white dress. She even has saggy little ankle boots.

He’s wearing a purple tunic top with a V that shows off his chest, but there’s also a leather chest guard keeping him protected. It’s not the fanciest clothes he ever wore, he can tell by the pattern on the pants, but it looks like something a royal retainer could wear. It’s sort of suited to him. The material making up his cape is nicer fabric than he’s ever touched in his life. Even his eyepatch has a little decal on it, he realizes as he reaches up to check if it’s still in place. 

“Woah,” Nina says. She’s already running around exploring the rooms, but she comes bounding back into the front room to shout at him. “Niles! There are  _ huge _ beds! And a whole kitchen and table! And there’s fruit and bread and cheese!” 

“All for you, fair maiden! This is your suite in the castle, it’s only down the hall from Prince Leo himself.” 

Huh. Odin did a really good job with this. There wasn’t any grey area to leave him, Niles supposes. He’s about to thank him when there’s a knock at the door. Niles is hesitant, but he pulls it open and he’s greeted by a sweet looking maid with pink hair pulled back on top of her head. 

“Good morning, Niles! Prince Leo asked me to fetch you--do you have a moment to go visit with him?” She asks. 

“I… Yes. I’ll be right there.” 

“Oh! Good!” He notices her look behind him, and he thinks she must be looking at Odin and their cover is blown, but instead when he turns all he sees is Nina. “Oh, Nina! Let me know if you need anything at all, alright? I’ll send up some cookies for you later.” 

“Thank you!” Nina chirps, even if she has no idea who this woman is. But then she leaves, and Niles closes the door, and Odin comes back out of hiding. 

“What was that?” Niles asks. 

Odin shrugs. “You said you wanted them to know you were Prince Leo’s retainer. Everyone is going to recognize you as if you’ve always been here. You know,  _ as _ a retainer.” 

Alright, that makes perfect sense. It would have been smart if Niles had wished for some inside knowledge of the castle inhabitants too, though. He might have pulled that off, but he can already tell not knowing anyone’s names or positions will make this harder for him. He’ll have to stay on his toes. “So what about Leo?” Niles asks. 

Odin frowns, and he chews on his lip like he doesn’t understand the question. “Uh… he’ll recognize you too?” 

Oh. Wait, hold on. Maybe this wish is going to bite him in the ass after all. Niles clears his throat. “So is he going to remember he sent me after this watch, or just forget all of that and assume I’m his retainer?” 

“Um. Well, in terms of his royal senses recalling your earlier meetings… well probably not,” Odin says, bashfully. 

Niles pushes his hands through his hair. “Odin, what the hell? How am I supposed to help Leo if he doesn’t remember asking me for the watch? Is he going to remember the watch at all?” 

“He might! I don’t see why it would have eliminated any of his memories that don’t pertain directly to you. After all, you told me that he told you about his mission on a whim, not that he tasked you with it directly. Surely he still recalls his own mission, even if he doesn’t particularly remember… you.”

“But he’ll remember me as his retainer,” Niles says. “Damn it. I knew that went too well. Couldn’t you have just let that wish swing in my favor? You said you were a hero; we’re trying to save an entire kingdom.”

Odin’s lips turn into a small pout. He looks like a kicked dog, but Niles doesn’t feel like he’s out of line for being a little upset. Eventually Odin opens his mouth to defend himself. “You didn’t specify! I told you to be as specific as possible!” 

Well… he did say that. And honestly it’s not like he lost a limb or his ability to talk or something detrimental. He can work with this. So he waves his hand. “It’s fine, ‘m sorry. You’re right, thanks for your help,” Niles says. “I’m going to go find Leo and try to explain this to him.” 

Leo was asking for him, and Niles has to figure out the best way to explain that he’s not actually his retainer and he came with a jinn to save the king. He doesn’t have time or energy to debate a wish with Odin, especially when it isn’t  _ technically _ bad. He did get them into the castle, get them a living space, and Nina is safe and sound with him. 

After Niles leaves the room, Nina tilts her head to look up at Odin. He still looks a little bit like a kicked puppy. “Can you control the wishes?” She asks softly. Her voice is laced with genuine curiosity and maybe a dash of concern. She reaches up and slips her hand into his, and he squeezes it gently.

“No,” Odin says to her, just as quietly. Only a moment later he smiles at her. Maybe he just wants to drop the subject of wishes, especially since he feels like he messed one up. Well he didn’t say he felt that way, but it’s pretty obvious. “We should build a fortress with your blankets. Don’t you think?” 

Nina nods her head. A blanket fortress is impossible to mess up.


	3. Chapter 3

From the moment Niles enters Leo’s chambers he feels like he’s being scrutinized. Maybe Leo is wary of him, and that’s why he stares at him so thoughtfully. He stands up to greet Niles, looks deeply into his eye--oh, goodness, and his pretty eyes still have Niles’s weak heart racing--and then he sighs while he walks closer. “You’re late. Are you feeling well today, Niles?” 

Niles’s shoulders slump just a bit. He was so sure that Leo could see through his facade in that moment. He was so sure that Leo could see an ordinary street rat hiding in retainer’s clothing. He doesn’t. Odin’s spell worked. Leo just looks at Niles like another resident of the fancy castle--a castle that he certainly doesn’t belong in. 

“I’m fine, m… Milord. You asked for me?” 

“Yes, I did. I think…” He stops talking, and his lips curl into that tight frown he had the day they met. It’s not suited to him, he looked so much nicer when he was smiling and looking out over the city of Windmire. “Come with me.” 

Leo reaches out and circles his fingers, soft, long fingers, around Niles’s wrist. He pulls him back further into his chambers, back until they’ve passed through the doors that lead into his bedroom. There’s his bed there with thick, silk canopies pulled up and tied around the posts. When they’ve made it through that door and it’s been closed, Leo whispers.

His whisper is so soft that Niles feels like he needs to lean in just to hear it. He says, “I believe a spell has been placed on the castle, but I don’t know how.” 

_ Oh. _ He does know that Niles isn’t supposed to be here. He knows that everyone is under a spell because of the jinn. Good, because it will make explaining far easier. “Well, Prince Leo, it’s just that I went to get that watch you wanted, and…” 

“What?” Leo asks.

Niles stutters. “The watch.” 

“Niles, I haven’t told you anything about that watch. How did you find out about it?” Leo folds his arms, but not aggressively. It’s like he’s hugging his arms around himself like he’s anxious. Or… more accurately like he thinks the walls have ears.

“You were the one who told me,” Niles says. Great. So he was wrong. Or, well, he was right the first time. Leo  _ doesn’t _ remember him from the market. 

“I haven’t told a single person here,” Leo says. “I don’t want rumors to spread. If  _ he _ were to hear about this…” but then he waves his hand dismissively. “Of course you know, Niles. It was absurd of me to think I could keep a secret from you. You know me too well.” 

Niles doesn’t really know a thing about Leo. His checklist of knowledge so far is that he wants to protect his family and kingdom, he’s afraid of that Iago guy, and that he’s remarkably attractive. This spell of Odin’s is pretty impressive, though, because Leo’s certainly acting like he’s known Niles for ages. Did it really just… plant memories of Niles into him?

Leo folds his hands almost in prayer against his lips before he sucks in a deep breath. “Alright, we need to just… hush. I can’t have Iago overhearing anything about that, I think he may be responsible for this spell. Something isn’t right here in the castle. I’m not sure if anyone else can feel it, but I certainly can.” 

He should say,  _ me. I’m not right.  _ Niles is the one who caused the haze over Leo’s mind, and he feels bad about it. He was the one who was supposed to remember, so they could work this out quickly. 

Quickly is an idea rapidly deteriorating. Leo sits down on the side of his bed and presses his fingertips against his temples. He’s  _ stressed _ out. It’s obvious, but it’s frustrating to be the cause of it. “Niles,” he says, “You know you’re the only person I’ve ever been able to confide in. I would have told you my plans immediately if I thought it was safe for you to know.” 

“Oh, it’s… Don’t apologize,” Niles says. He tries not to look as bothered is he is. When they met Leo told him he couldn’t trust anyone in the castle. He told Niles about his plans because he felt safer confiding in a thief and a stranger than his own soldiers. It’s a little bit… sad. Lonely. “Maybe you should have breakfast. Have you had anything to eat?” Niles asks.

He notices a breakfast tray settled on a table but it doesn’t look like anything has been taken from it. It has sliced berries, a few slices of what looks like sweet bread with blackberries baked into it, an apple, and a few different spreads to be smeared over the bread. It’s the most gourmet thing Niles has ever seen compared to hunks of stolen bread dipped in equally stolen honey, but that’s probably what the life of a prince is like. He’s not surprised. 

“I haven’t had an appetite,” Leo says when he notices Niles bring the tray over. Leo sighs at it, like the tray itself committed a crime, and then he mumbles, “Alright, alright.” He picks up one of the slices of bread and spreads some golden honey over the top of it. 

Then he passes it to Niles. For a moment Niles hesitates. He really shouldn’t take it, even if it looks good. Leo pushes it towards him again. “Oh, just take it, Niles. We both know it’s your favorite.” 

Well, it is. Niles hasn’t had bread with blackberries baked into it before but if he had to guess what his favorite breakfast would be living in a  _ castle,  _ this is it. He takes the bread and a small bite and honestly his eye nearly rolls back. It’s tart from the berry and sweet from the honey, and the bread is fresh like it just came out of the oven. It’s not even stale! 

Alright, he had a bite. It was the best one-bite of anything he’s ever tasted, but he sets it back down onto the tray to insist that he brought it over here for Leo to eat, not himself. He flinches, however, when Leo reaches out and runs his thumb along Niles’s lip. 

_ “Honey…”  _ He says in a hush before his eyes grow wider. “ _ You!  _ You’re the spell on us, Niles!” 

Leo pushes the tray out of his lap to pace the room. So much for eating his breakfast. Niles stands up as well, but he doesn’t think there’s a thing he can do to calm him down. He has both of his hands folded, covering his mouth entirely. “Good gods, it feels so real. I completely missed it, and you were right in front of me. It’s like I’ve known you all my life, I would have trusted you entirely. If I hadn’t recalled the honey the other day...” 

He grows silent. Niles is starting to wonder if he’s about to be executed or something just for being here in the prince’s room, for having sat on his bed, but instead, when Leo turns to face him he asks, “You said you went after the watch? That’s what caused this? How?” 

Oh. Well, at least he was listening. “A jinn lives in the watch,” Niles says. Leo falls back down onto the bed beside the breakfast tray. He picks up the slice of bread Niles took the bite from and takes one himself while he stares at the floor. 

“A jinn… will certainly have the power to stop my father from losing his mind. We need to come up with a plan, of course.” 

Niles wants to say he pays attention properly to the plan the first time Leo goes over it. Unfortunately for them both, he’s paying far more attention to the way his lips curve while he talks, and to the tingle in his own lips where Leo’s thumb rubbed past them. 

…

“Odin,” Nina says from within their blanket fort. They’ve used some chairs to build and support the walls of it, and another blanket laid over the front as a flap to get in and out. Inside they have a pile of pillows softer than any Nina has ever felt before. He’s laying on his belly and she’s laying on top of his back, staring at the pretty designs of the fabric in the light. “How come you’re with me and not with Niles?” 

“He left the watch here,” Odin answers in a rumble. Like maybe he was falling asleep. Do jinns sleep? “I have to stay with the watch is all. If he were to come back for it I would go with him.” 

That makes sense. Nina rolls off of his back and onto the pillows, giggling when he grunts like an old man. “What happens if someone else took the watch?” 

“What watch?” Comes a voice from the doorway. Elise pushes the door shut with her foot and at first, she’s caught up admiring the amazing blanket fort. She hasn’t built one in a while, herself. She’s just barely turned eighteen and suddenly everyone expects her to act like an adult and a refined young woman instead of a child. It’s awful. She would rather be building blanket forts with Nina. And, well, that’s why she came up here with the cookies Felicia promised earlier anyway. She wanted to waste away a few hours playing with her favorite little girl. 

But as she dips her head to the side and her long, blonde curls flop down past her shoulder, Elise realizes there’s more than just Nina in that fort. There’s also a man, probably in his mid-twenties. A little younger than Niles, a little older than Leo. 

Elise can’t say she’s ever been struck by Cupid’s bow or anything, but she’s also never seen this guy before today and she  _ can  _ say she’s in love. At first sight! Immediately. Of course, even if she’s a little in love she’s still also enough of an adult to be wary of a strange man in the castle. “Nina… who is this?” 

She settles down on the floor inside their little fortress, and Nina reaches out for a cookie. She takes a big bite, some of the still-warm chocolate smearing onto her cheeks before she shrugs her shoulders. “This is Odin! He’s a jinn.” 

“What?” Elise asks. She grins at him and offers him a cookie. He looks at it longingly, debates it, and then he reaches out and breaks off a piece of one. “I’ve never met a  _ jinn _ before. I didn’t know they were real! My name is Elise, I’m the princess. It’s amazing to meet you!” 

“No,” Odin starts to say. He glances at Nina with a frown. “I’m not a jinn, Nina, I’m a human.” 

Nina sits up and rubs the chocolate from her cheek. “But you grant wishes, Odin. Why do you keep saying that?” 

Elise is missing so many pieces of this puzzle. She doesn’t know why there’s a jinn here, how Nina got her hands on him, or why they’re building blanket forts. But she does know she’s sticking around to find out. 

Odin sets his half-eaten cookie down and folds his arms under his chin. “A long time ago, I found a jinn. I was young, and I didn’t know better, and I didn’t think about the jinn taking advantage of my wishes. I only made one: I wished that I could make a difference in the world by really helping people—as a hero should. So… he slapped me into that pocket watch--it was my father’s, I used to carry it with me for good fortune--and he cursed me to grant wishes like a jinn.” 

Elise can feel her eyes getting wider. Can a jinn do that? Wishes are supposed to be able to do anything, she supposes. Nina looks just as startled. Odin shrugs. “I can’t actually control the wishes,” He goes on to say. “Or their outcomes. I have a limited understanding of magic in general so if you’re not careful with your wish it will curse you just like a jinn. That’s not helping people at all… and it’s not very heroic.” 

“How long have you been trapped?” Nina asks. 

Odin picks at his cookie. “Since there were dragons roaming the earth.” 

Both Nina and Elise whisper a quiet  _ woah.  _ It's heartbreaking! And, well, it’s probably why Elise feels like there’s a veil of magic over her head today. Someone, maybe Nina, used a wish to do that. “Odin… Is there a way to break your curse?” 

“I don’t know,” Odin admits. “I suppose if whoever I was serving wished for my curse to break, then it would. Wishes can do anything.” 

“Then you could be free again!” Nina says. 

Elise thinks she’s just as starry-eyed as Nina, too. “What would you do?” She asks. “If you were free?” 

Odin chuckles. “I haven’t really thought about it in a while, but maybe take a horse and explore. I could go on an adventure, fall in love, ride off into the sunset... “ 

With her. Elise has already decided. She has a perfectly good horse and even though ten minutes ago she was feeling bitter about behaving like a grown woman, now she’s thinking maybe she could handle being a grown woman if it means exploring the world with someone as cool as Odin and definitely marrying him and having a big family and telling their grandkids all kinds of amazing stories. 

“Are you okay over there?” Nina asks. She reaches out and pokes her fingertip right into Elise’s cheek. “You look like a zombie.” 

“I’m fine!” Elise laughs. “Anyway… who is your master?” 

“Whoever finds the watch,” Odin says. “Right now it’s Niles--even though he left it here.” 

Oh. That must be what they were talking about when Elise walked in; the pocket watch “Does that mean just anyone could steal you away and force you to grant them wishes?” 

“Anyone could take the watch, but I can only grant wishes for one master at a time. No one else can have any wishes until Niles uses his last one. After that I’ll be sealed into the watch for a few hundred years again,” Odin answers.

Nina nods her head. “He’s going to use that one to save the king.” 

“ _ What?” _ Elise asks. “Are you kidding? Oh, boy he doesn’t have to waste a wish on that--I was just coming in here to tell Niles that I finally figured out where that magic is coming from!” Well, and to hang out with Nina, but Niles  _ is  _ an important part of her day today too. 

“Why… would you be coming here to tell Niles that?” Nina asks. 

“Huh?” Elise asks. She watches Odin sit up, and Nina scoots closer. “Well, I sent him off on a super-secret mission to get me lots of books from the undercity a few weeks ago. Leo has been really worried about Father--we all are. I think we all know about the spell causing it too, but we can’t  _ do _ anything. Since he’s the one who practices the most magic, I think he’s blaming himself.” 

“Right, but what about the books?” Nina asks. Elise realizes she kind of missed her point. 

“Right! So the books he brought back for me were about things like curses and hypnosis and I  _ think _ if we just break that awful staff he carries around with him, the curse would stop and then he’ll be weak enough to be executed.” 

“What happens if he’s executed?” Odin asks, dumbly. 

But it’s a cute kind of dumb and Elise is still in love with it. “Well he dies, silly.” 

“But will that really make the king normal again?” Nina asks.

Elise frowns. “Well… I don’t know.” 

“If it doesn’t then Niles can use his final wish to restore the king and Nohr its former glory. I think that’s a reasonable way to spend a wish! Heroic even,” Odin says. Elise pouts. Nina frowns. 

“But what about wishing you free?” Nina asks. 

“Being a hero is about helping others, not necessarily yourself,” Odin says with a tiny smile. He looks sad again, though and Elise doesn’t like it. Why shouldn’t he be free? She stands up and leaves the fort, but only so she can tuck the pocket watch sitting on the table into her pocket. 

…

“How could you forget it in your room?” Leo hisses softly. The two of them are walking swiftly down the hall towards Niles’s room, and honestly, Niles wishes he had a good answer. He’s not used to this sort of thing. His daily adventures are usually nothing more than stealing coin purses. He’s not used to trying to save a kingdom and he’s not used to babysitting a pocket watch with a jinn inside of it. 

He’s never been lectured by Leo before either, but maybe it’s Odin’s magic that makes it seem familiar. Or maybe it’s just that time in the market when he was harping on Niles about stealing Nina’s apple. “If I knew there was a spell on this castle, so will Ia..go.” Leo closes his mouth because standing there, between them and the rest of the hall, is a gnarly, pasty man with a few guards behind him. 

“There’s a spell on the castle, you say?” He asks. This must be Iago. He looks the part. He’s got a tall staff, long and shaped like a serpent. Its eyes gleam like they’re glowing, but surely they’re just made of gemstones. His hair is long, black, and comes down over his shoulders like ink. 

Leo keeps his mouth shut tight instead of answering. Probably to avoid saying anything incriminating. 

“I wondered what little rat was trying to usurp the king, and now I know it was you. Arrest him, now, for treason against our king.” Iago says. The guards behind him start to move forward. Niles is startled for a moment… but then he throws his body weight into the guard trying to subdue Leo. The other guard catches his arm, though, and he corners him with a sword to Niles’s back. 

“You can throw the retainer in the dungeon with him. They’ll both pay for their crimes,” Iago says. 

…

  
  


Leo has his face in his hands. He’s not crying, he’s just frustrated. Niles can tell. They’re sitting in a cell down beneath the castle, in the dungeons, and he’s been silent for some time now. He’s just thinking. 

“Milord?” Niles eventually asks. 

Leo laughs, almost pathetically. “You don’t have to call me that, Niles. You met me two days ago and we’re both near our own deaths. Just  _ Leo _ is fine.” 

“I don’t think we’ll die,” Niles says. He’s not optimistic about escape either, but he would rather convince himself it will be alright. He thinks about Nina briefly. Is she still safe in that room, or did Iago do anything to her? Niles would kill him himself. But Nina is a smart girl, and she knows when to hide. 

“If Iago knew you were the source of the spell, he wouldn’t have acted so familiarly with you,” Leo says. At first, Niles doesn’t follow his point, but then it clicks. Iago called him Leo’s retainer. He acted as if he knew him. “I think that means he’s not sure what the cause is. Or, if he thinks it  _ is _ me, that will throw him off of the trail. He won’t know about the jinn.” 

“Yes, true,” Niles says, “But will that change the fact that he’s organizing men to hang us?” 

“No, not really.” Leo curls his arms around his knees. He looks focused again, but also hopeless. That’s probably Niles’s fault for bringing up their deaths. So Niles scoots closer until their arms bump together, and Leo turns a soft shade of pink again before he resumes staring at the wall. At least he can flirt a little before they die.

“What in the world made you fun off to the Woods of the Forlorn to get that watch for me?” Leo asks. 

“I think a bout of insanity,” Niles answers. Leo smirks at him, and Niles chuckles and looks down at his hands. They’re chained up. Leo’s are, too They can’t get far, even if they could get the cell door open. “I guess it was the way you wanted to help a little girl you’d never met so badly that you jumped off of a roof for her. I figure that’s the sort of prince I want to stand behind. Not the royal family as it is now, but a royal family that values even the smallest of its people.” 

“My father was a good man, once. If he can be saved I know we can rebuild,” Leo says in a low hum. “Especially if we can prove Iago is behind this and clear Father’s name. We aren’t a family of shut-ins. We want what’s best for Nohr.” 

“I believe you,” Niles says. 

“So why did you wish to be my retainer? You could have asked that jinn to do anything.” 

“Well you only get three wishes, and I spent one of them on not dying in the woods. I needed to save one for your father, so I needed a way to get to you.” Niles doesn’t really regret it, because it worked as planned. What he regrets is leaving that pocket watch in his room. He just hopes that Iago doesn’t find it. 

“What happens to the jinn after the third wish?” 

“Well, I guess he goes back into the pocket watch until someone else finds him.” Niles says “I’m not really sure.” 

“They say a jinn can only grant wishes every two hundred years. I imagine once you use that wish no one will be seeing him any time soon. Perhaps his watch should be kept someplace safer than cursed caves. Maybe someplace where the royal family can keep watch over him.” 

“Actually he’s going to be a human again,” Nina says. Nina! And Niles’s heart leaps into his throat. She pushes open the rusty cell door and she’s got a key ring on her fingertip, spinning around.

“Elise?” Leo asks the young woman standing behind her. She shrugs her shoulders. 

“What, was I just supposed to leave you down here?” She pouts. Nina scampers over and jiggles keys in the chains until the cuffs fall off Leo’s wrists. Then she starts to move towards Niles’s. Elise holds up the pocket watch in her hand. 

Relief is the first thing Niles feels. “Oh, good. We need that to stop Iago.” 

“No you don’t,” Elise says. “We just need to break his dumb staff. You can’t have this watch back unless you  _ promise _ to use your last wish to free Odin from his curse.” 

“Curse?” Leo asks. 

Niles frowns. “What curse?” 

“He’s not a jinn!” Nina says. She pulls Niles up to his feet. “He was a human, and a jinn made him live in the watch and grant wishes. You just have to use a wish to free him!” 

“That sounds an awful lot like something a jinn might say to trick you,” Leo says. Elise fixes him with an icy stare. Niles can tell she’s not one to typically make a face like that. It’s haunting. 

“He said if breaking the staff doesn’t save Father that we should use the last wish to save him, but if it  _ does _ work I’m never giving the watch back until you  _ promise, _ Niles.” 

He’s a lying thief, what good is his word to a princess? She seems to trust him, though, just like Leo does. Even if he knows he has no business trusting him, Leo still does. “Alright. If the king doesn’t need it, you can do whatever you like with the last wish.” 

“It’s your wish, only,” Odin says. Niles isn’t convinced he was in the room before, but he’s standing there now as if he appeared from thin air. Maybe from the watch itself. “You can use it however you like. Lady Elise’s intentions are noble, but  _ you _ are my master. Now! The time for glory is upon us! Iago is in your study, Prince Leo.” 

The trip to the study should have been swifter, but on the way, they make a detour by Niles’s room. “ _ Stay here,”  _ Niles says to Nina. She stomps her foot and pouts and she nearly wins, but then Elise agrees to stay with her. 

“It’ll be fun!” Elise says. “We can have the rest of those cookies and play cards. I’ll teach you my favorite games, okay?” 

Nina looks completely hesitant, and Niles feels bad, but he won’t take her with him to fight a madman. He’s lucky enough that Iago didn’t have the good sense to come after her before. He glances from Nina to Odin, who stops in front of the girls.

“Milady Elise,” He says with a cheerful tone in his voice. He holds out his hand. “It is time for you to return the pocket watch to Niles. I need to join him in this final battle, should he need to use that wish.” 

Elise puffs out her cheeks and pouts. It’s almost as cute as when Nina pouts--no wonder an entire castle would bend to her will. “If he uses that wish then you’re going to go away for a long time, aren’t you?” 

“Fear not! My tale will live on in legend, even if I don’t walk a free man. Now,” he flexes his hand. “Please?” 

Elise sighs and plucks the watch from her pocket. She places it into his hand, and as his fingers curl up around it she squeezes them with her own. “If Niles  _ does _ free you, will you let me go on your adventure with you?” 

He grins at her and nods his head. “It would be my privilege and honor, Princess.” When he’s through with that goodbye, and a little hug for Nina, he turns and hands the watch back to Niles. Niles isn’t even sure when he got to be so close to those girls. All he could have spent with them is one afternoon, but they act like they’ve known him all their lives. 

But, for once, Niles doesn’t think that’s the work of a jinn manipulating naive humans. He’s finally starting to think that maybe Odin is telling the truth when he says he’s only human. 

Iago is in Leo’s study, just like Odin said he would be. He’s snooping, digging up any dirt he can find, and Niles is sure it’s because he needs a valid reason before he just executes one of the king’s children. His back is turned to them and his staff is there, propped against Leo’s desk. 

It almost seems too easy, Niles thinks, while he tries to sneak towards the staff. Elise told them she thinks destroying this will break the source of Iago’s powers. Leo is willing to try it, and so is Niles before they just rush in there with a wish. Especially because it seems like Elise and Nina have their hearts set on freeing Odin from the watch. 

But no sooner is the staff in reach than Iago turns around and hisses. “You!” He says. “You’re the one who brought the spell over this place. Tell me how, how did you--” 

He stops when he lays eyes on Odin. He’s just standing there wearing clothes that seem fairly casual for Nohr. He dressed like nothing more than a servant, giving up those princely clothes. Still, Niles can tell that Iago sees right through him. 

“A jinn,” he says. Odin frowns. Niles can practically hear him holding back the urge to say that he’s not, in fact, a jinn. Whether he intended to say it or not, Iago laughs. “No wonder the magic is so strong, it was a  _ wish!  _ And what exactly did you wish for, hm?” 

Leo sucks in a breath. Niles watches him do it, watches him lunge, but he doesn’t know  _ why _ until he’s nearly blown away by a wind spell. He’s not, but only because Leo took the brunt of it. His clothes are shredded by the sharp wind, his hair is blown into a mess, but he looks uninjured. Maybe it’s because he practices magic himself; it doesn’t affect him nearly as much. That sort of spell would have  _ hurt  _ if it were Niles.

“Fool!” Iago shouts, but Niles doesn’t need another moment’s hesitation. He reaches for the staff and smashes it to the ground. The head and eyes of the serpent shatter, and as the glass spills across the floor so does an inky, black smoke composed of pure malice. When it fades it’s like the air is clear again, and it’s easier to breathe. 

Guards break into the room right away. Iago gasps, shouting “Arrest them!” but none of them do. Iago is arrested, instead. 

…

“So this is it,” Odin says. He’s standing out in the garden with Niles. Behind him is a little horse-drawn cart packed with a few things, an adventure awaits him. He doesn’t look nearly as ethereal as he did when he could glow and hide in the watch, but he glows with a new sort of pride and happiness now that he’s human again. 

“This is it,” Niles agrees. Odin is heading out on his travels. As promised, he’s taking Elise with him--along with her retainers, who wouldn’t part ways with her. It’s fine! The more the merrier, he thinks, although she was a little pouty about it. “Nina would be heartbroken if you didn’t write to her.” 

“I’ll write to her every day!” Odin says. “And I know when I return to bring Lady Elise home she’ll still be here.” 

“As long as I don’t get fired,” Niles hums. 

Leo asked him to stay in the castle. Once his father recovered and was back in his right mind, he asked Leo to choose retainers right away. He chose two. Niles first, because of his willingness to help Leo and his blind recklessness in doing such… and then Odin, because of his efforts to do everything in his power to assist Niles with such a task--and of course for saving his life when they met. 

Of course, seeing as how one of his retainers is taking a who-knows-how-long vacation after a few thousand years of imprisonment, Niles thinks most of the weight will be on his own shoulders. 

“Don’t get fired,” Odin says 

“Don’t get yourself killed,” Niles says in exchange. But then he says his goodbyes and makes his way back through the halls. Odin will be fine even if he’s got some social norms to pick up on, and Arthur and Effie will make sure no harm comes to Elise. Frankly, Niles thinks Odin should be more worried about his  _ own _ safety--that girl is going to jump him and he doesn’t even know it. 

He slips through the kitchen and picks up a silver tray only to have Felicia gasp. “Niles! It’s still very hot, be careful!” she says. He balances it on one hand and picks up two tea biscuits to set on the tray as well before he takes it in both hands. 

“Trust me, luv, I can manage a bit of tea,” He says. She blushes and swings a thin towel at him at him but he dips back out of the kitchen so he can make his way up to Leo’s room with the tea. When he’s let himself in he sets the tray down at Leo’s bedside, and he pulls back the drapes of his canopy. 

The sunlight filters in and Leo makes an agitated face, but he sits up and pushes the heels of his hands against his eyes. “Niles,” He moans quietly. “I prefer a softer wake up call than having the sun blind me.” 

“Oh?” Niles asks. He shifts to sit on the side of the bed, purposefully placing his weight so that Leo fumbles and topples into him. From there he easily uses his fingertips to guide him into a slow, breathy kiss. A  _ soft _ kiss. “A wake up call like this, perhaps?” 

Leo’s face is incredibly red when Niles pulls away. Maybe because kissing, while exciting, is still very new. A kiss like that certainly is, because Niles has never kissed him with more than just a chaste peck. But this kiss was keep, and Niles can still taste his breath when Leo says “Perhaps… something more like that.” 

“Next time you should put your hand in his hair, it’s more romantic that way,” Nina says from the doorway. She’s got a book in her hand and her hair in those sweet braids again, and she’s rocking on her feet. Leo drops his head back down onto the bed because in that very moment Niles would think he may be too embarrassed to carry on with the process of waking up. “Dad, you said you would walk me to my lessons today.” 

“That I did,” Niles says. 

“So do that and make out with Leo later, okay?” 

Leo moans uncomfortably and pulls the blankets up over his head. Niles chuckles and bends down to kiss his covered forehead before he stands up and pats his arm twice. “Eat your breakfast, honey. Your brother asked for you to spar with him today.”

Niles walks back to the door, leaving the tea tray for Leo, and he slips his hand into Nina’s. As they shut the door, she peers back inside. “I think you killed him.” 

“He’ll be alright,” Niles says. “Odin said today is the beginning of everyone’s happily ever after--he’s not allowed to die just yet.” 


End file.
